Fothergilla is for John Fothergill, a physician and gardener.
Gardenii doesn’t mean “looks good in a garden”—it recognizes Dr. Alexander Garden,
a contemporary of Fothergill’s for whom the gardenia is also named. Dwarf fothergilla is
native to the American southeast.

Identification: This deciduous shrub is 18-36" (45-91 cm) tall and
24-48" (60-121 cm) wide, with crookedly branching stems. It
produces numerous white flowerheads that look like bottlebrushes. Each flowerhead is 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) long and
¾-1" (1.9-2.5 cm) in diameter. The brushlike filaments are white flower stamens and pale yellow anthers; there
are no petals. The flowers smell a bit like honey. Leaves are alternate, 1-3" (2.5-7.6 cm) long, glossy, dark green
or gray-green to blue-green,
with prominent veins and shallow lobes or teeth. They become brilliant red, orange, yellow, and pink in the fall. Fruits are incon­spicuous green
capsules that turn olive brown.

Online References:

Fothergilla major 'Mt.Airy' in Paghat's Garden (this is about a cultivated variety of Fothergilla, but it includes an interesting story about the people behind the plants)